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Through the Obama Foundation Scholars Program, you’ll be
connected to one another, the UChicago and Obama Foundation networks, and gain
additional skills, training, and inspiration that will help you change
your community and, ultimately, the world.
A Scholarship with Unparalleled Opportunities
The Obama Foundation and
the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy share a goal of
ensuring that talented young people from around the world can build the skills
they need to advance their work as active citizens and to make a real impact in
their communities.
The Obama Foundation Scholars Program offers an
extraordinary scholarship that covers tuition and expenses and provides a
monthly living stipend, funding for books and course materials, and
opportunities to experience unique out-of-the-classroom programming. Any travel
costs for these experiences will also be fully covered.
Experiences Outside the Classroom
You won't just be working in the classroom.
You'll participate in unique
programs developed in partnership with the Obama Foundation.
The Obama Foundation will offer a robust program of
leadership development and service activities throughout the academic
year to help you gain the real-world skills, tools, and experiences to expand
the impact of your work when you return home.
Programming begins before you set foot on campus and extends
well beyond your return home. The extraordinary experiences you will have as an
Obama Foundation Scholar—opportunities such as a leadership week in Chicago
before classes begin, personalized mentoring, access to some of the world’s
most innovative thinkers, values-based leadership training, internships, and
immersive activities in Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C.—will provide outstanding
networking, learning, and leadership development opportunities, and enable you
to give back by engaging in Obama Foundation activities and programs while you
are in the United States.
Some of these Foundation activities will include experiences
throughout Chicago and the South Side. By engaging with the local
community, students will have the opportunity to complement what they learn in
the classroom and to bring their unique perspectives to Chicago.
A Continued Commitment
As an Obama Foundation Scholar, you’ll be expected to return
to and reinvest your new skills in your community after the program concludes.
Over the course of a year-long, values-driven leadership
development curriculum, you’ll work to develop an action plan that can be
implemented when you return to your community. By turning these plans into
reality, you’ll play an important role in amplifying the Obama Foundation’s
efforts to mobilize and train emerging civic leaders around the world.
As an alum, you'll also have the opportunity to provide
support for Obama Foundation programs in your own community. Plus, you'll have
continued access to the Obama Foundation network and the opportunity to
participate in regionally focused programming and events.
More than anything else, you'll gain the tools, training,
and inspiration you need to change your community and the world; you'll make
new connections to help expand your work; and you'll gain multiple
opportunities to tell your story.
